Wilmington, NC News

Archive for January, 2013

WHITEVILLE, NC (WWAY) — 24-year-old Daniel Davis was in the Columbus County Detention Center for a probation violation when he says the unthinkable happened.

In a jailhouse interview Davis rehashed the events surrounding the beating that left him with a severely broken jaw.

“They put me in the cell with murderers and rapists,” said Daniel Davis. “They brought cigarettes in from outside, and so somebody’s cigarettes got missing, and one of the other boys said they seen me grab them. I went to my cell and I was going to get my bible and read it like I do every evening and four men run in behind me and jumped me and started beating me. Four against one there wasn’t too much I could do, so my biggest concern was getting out of my cell door. When I come out of my cell them boys came out behind me and the rest of the pod jumped in and said if you hit the button and call for help we all are going to jump on you. The biggest thing that got me was that none of the C/O’s could see blood running down my mouth or nothing else and they’re setting in a 24 hour box watching everything. I sat in there for 13 hours and they shook the block down and I let the sergeant know. I told him I needed to go to the emergency room or I needed to see the nurse and he said the nurse is gone. I kept at them saying I need to see somebody I need to see somebody and they kept refusing me to see any kind of emergency. The nurse is gone, that’s what they kept telling me. In my situation I should have been taken to an emergency room.”

With his jaw wired shut Davis is currently unable to eat solid food, and has been forced to go on a liquid diet. “I talked to the doctor up there in Wilmington and asked him if I could get ensure,” said Davis. “I had to call my mother to pay for it and I get two of them a day. If it wasn’t for that I wouldn’t really be eating nothing. I sat in here three days before I ever had my jaw wired shut.”

Davis says it is now a waiting game to find out if he will be released due to a medical hardship or be extradited back to Horry County, South Carolina, where he is wanted for probation violation.

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Organizers say it drew over 12,000 parade goers to downtown Wilmington but some business owners say the Martin Luther King parade hurt their business.

“Every step is a process and ever process is a learning process so I think this was a growing pain,” said John Hinnant of Wilmington Downtown Incorporated.

A growing pain that brought businessmen and bikers together inside the confines of city hall to discuss ways to improve the Martin Luther King Parade.

After years on Castle Street the parade route was moved to Front Street, which provided mixed results.

“It’s a very passionate thing,” said deputy city manager Tony Caudle. “It’s something that has been very well attended on Castle Street for a very long time. Moving it to a new location obviously a lot of folks didn’t know it was going to happen. So I think it’s very important to make sure that we reach out into the community and make sure we channel some of that passion back into constructive criticism.”

That constructive criticism was written down and discussed amongst the attendees, many of whom say despite a few negatives, holding the parade downtown was overall a positive experience.

“Having walked in the parade on Castle Street and having attended the parade on Castle Street I knew that this was an opportunity to really grow the event into a true community event with a diverse audience with more kids and more families and that happened and to that end it was a success,” said John Hinnant.

“I think it was a net positive,” said Tony Caudle. “Some of the business folks are concerned that they didn’t get as much business out of it that they would like to see. There is always that concern when you block off streets but you know I think it’s a net positive anytime you can 12,000 people downtown on a Monday that aren’t in office buildings, I think that’s a good thing.”

According to the Wilmington Police Department, the suspect has been identified as Jermaine Junior Cordova who is still at New Hanover Regional Medical Center receiving treatment for a leg injury. Charges against Cordova are still pending.